Of Hellions and Rebellions
by esmeralda312
Summary: Bonnie Bennett's world began its collapse long ago, but now she knows she is at the end of her rope. As the only remaining pillar of stability in her life crumbles before her eyes, what is left for her? Saving grace can come from the least expected of places. (This is my revamp of episode 4x12, A View to a Kill.) Rated M for language.


Bonnie Bennett was fucked.

There was only one person she'd believed she could truly depend on anymore. Her father was making a play to be World's Best Dad, but frankly, his lack of practice showed and it was too little too late for that anyway. Her best friends, the ones she loved like the family she felt she never had outside of Grams, were so caught up in their own drama that she never saw them unless they needed something. And when she lost her powers, they didn't need anything from her.

Like Damon so infuriatingly put it, the witch who loses her powers gets left out of the important conversations. She hated him for it, and she hated him in general, but he was right. She remembered how she'd cried alone at home for days after watching the spirits torture Grams, and she had missed the beginning of the school year before anyone checked in on her. She remembered how even then, Stefan only showed up because he needed her help.

So yes, there was only one person in the world she felt like she could depend on anymore. Only one person who took a personal interest in her as Bonnie and not just as that Bennett witch. Only one person who made it his mission to help her regain what she had lost, rebuilding her powers slowly but surely.

And now she knew the truth. The only person in the world she'd believed she could depend on was a murdering, psychotic liar. A murdering, psychotic liar who she had trusted blindly and completely, who she had allowed access to the deepest recesses of her hypnotized mind.

Breaking all of the bones in Shane's hand was the best feeling Bonnie had felt in a long, long time.

But that high lasted for less than a minute. And then she was sinking back down, haunted by the fear in her father's eyes as the wall of flames she'd conjured began to recede.

* * *

He watched her as she walked down the hallway, her boots kicking distractedly at the sea of bright balloons that littered the floor.

He couldn't deny, the girl was a beauty. Her lips curled into a sneer as she spoke angrily into the phone, and even that was appealing. What was it about witches?

Sure, there was all that power suffusing them with some feral kind of vitality. But this was more than that. He'd seen (and destroyed) a lot of beauty in his millennium of unlife, yet something about this slip of a girl took his breath away.

Witches. Honestly.

It was a shame he had to kill her.

She sighed and tucked her phone into her pocket as she passed him, and he took that moment of distraction to make his attack. He lunged at her, pinning her to a row of lockers by her neck.

"How lousy of a witch must one be to seek to wake Silas, the betrayer of your kind?"

She said nothing, but he watched in detached fascination as the shocked fear in her eyes turned to ice. And then the aloof disconnect was gone as he felt his femur shatter. It was excruciating, and when he fell to his knees he roared in pain, the shock of his fall reverberating through his destroyed thigh.

"Expression magic…" he groaned through his clenched teeth. "Little witch, have you any idea what you've gotten yourself into?"

Her stony countenance flickered with doubt for less than a moment before she fled. But he saw it.

* * *

He heard scuffling on the other side of the door. He smirked to himself, imagining their panic. It was fortuitous, really, he'd just settled on the new plan of ripping his old friend Jeremy's illustrated arm off when who else but Gilbert's meddlesome, slack-jawed sister called. They clearly had not expected him to already be in the neighborhood.

"I'm waiting. Let me in, and let's talk truce." More frantic silence on the other end. "Hello?"

He heard the scratching of chalk on chalkboard as she finally spoke. "Wouldn't that be kind of stupid to invite you in?"

"On the contrary, I can't kill your brother or I'll spend the next century trying to off myself in creatively gruesome ways. Who has time for that?" Kol tapped his fingers against the front door, growing bored as the scratching of Elena's chalkboard continued. It was rather dull actually, how idiotic these people were.

He heard Jeremy whisper, "I'm the only one who can invite him in."

"He's right, obviously," Kol goaded. "Now be a darling and open the door."

He tilted his head and threw the brown-eyed vampire a cheeky smile as she finally came into view.

"If I let you in, my brother goes. You're not getting near him."

He shrugged. "Fair enough."

Elena turned to Jeremy with a nod. "You can come in." The Hunter was gone through the back door the moment he finished speaking.

Kol sneered. "No gold medals for bravery, I see." He stepped into the Gilbert house, offhandedly wondering what harebrained trap they had set for him.

* * *

"No one is going anywhere."

Abby's face was the last thing Bonnie had expected to see as she stepped onto the porch. The veins writhing beneath her eyes lent her mother a kind of ferocity that made Bonnie take a step back.

She turned to her father. "So you're taking this family meeting thing pretty seriously."

She suppressed a shudder as the look of pitying concern on his face didn't fade in the slightest. "Bonnie, we need to take care of this. Shane said you were a _time bomb_."

"And we've already established that Shane is a lying asshole. So what?" Bonnie crossed her arms, her patience wearing very thin.

"Bonnie, language!" Abby's face was Abby's face again, twisted with concern the same way as her father's.

"Are you kidding me? You both think you can just waltz in now and we'll be the Cleavers?" She hitched the strap of her satchel higher on her shoulder and moved back towards the door. "I've taken care of _myself_ for this long. You have no idea what I'm capable of, and you have no right to tell me what I can and can't do. I'm not broken, and even if I was, you don't get to fix me. I'm going to Elena's, now get out of my way."

Her father moved to block the door and turned when a knock resounded behind him. Jeremy stood on the other side of the glass. He pushed his way in as the mayor opened the door a crack.

"Bonnie, where the hell have you been? I've called you like a hundred times."

Something about how he said it like she was supposed to always be at his beck and call rubbed her the wrong way, but Jeremy was the only one who never treated her like his own personal Dial-a-Witch. Benefit of the doubt then, she decided.

She rolled her eyes. "Family meeting. Don't ask."

"Kol is in our house with Elena, we need to go. _Now_."

Her eyes widened, and they rushed for the door. Her father was still in the way, his voice firm and even. "Bonnie, we are your parents, and you are staying here until we say you can leave."

"Are you even listening? Elena is in _danger_, I'm going!" She took a step to move around him, dragging Jeremy behind her.

Suddenly Abby stood before her. "My daughter is done helping Elena Gilbert."

Bonnie felt herself being thrown to the side and turned back to see Jeremy pointing a stake at Abby's chest. Abby held it back with one hand. Bonnie, regaining her balance, stood beside Jeremy and placed her hand gently on his neck to redirect his attention.

"Jeremy, look at me. Don't do this, don't hurt her. She's my mom."

Jeremy's gaze flickered towards the witch, and relief flooded through her as his eyes softened and his arm dropped to his side.

With a final silent glance to her parents, Bonnie led Jeremy out the door.

* * *

"Now, can you teach me how to make this?" Elena's hip jutted to one side as her eyes widened coquettishly. She held the mixer out to him.

She's been spending too long with those brainless Salvatores if she thinks that's going to work, he thought.

He heard her fingers tapping out a text while she pretended to gather a bowl of ice for their drinks. He stood behind the door and stared at her when she closed it, making her jump. "Here you go," she said nervously, handing him the clinking ice.

He smiled.

He returned to the counter and mixed their drinks. "What if I said I don't believe you?"

She stood on the opposite side of the kitchen. "W- what?"

He handed her a tumbler. "It just seems odd that you'd be willing to give up something you want so much."

She took a sip and replied, "I would do anything for my brother. Besides, what does it matter what I want if it puts everyone else in danger?"

Kol stared at her, the ghost of a smirk crossing over his lips. Her jaw clenched, but she didn't look away. He set his untouched drink down. "Well, this has been enlightening."

Elena looked surprised as he walked towards the door. He waited for her to stop him, but apparently she wasn't prepared to react to him willingly leave her company so soon. He imagined there would be much furious texting after he was gone, but their game had quickly grown tedious. With no Hunter's arms available for removal, being in the Gilbert house soon felt an unnecessary torture.

He turned to her from the doorstep. "I'll take your request for a truce under advisement."

* * *

Bonnie stumbled into the Gilbert house behind Jeremy, only to find Elena there alone.

"He left, I couldn't get him to stay." She sounded defeated.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow at that. "Get him to stay?"

Elena nodded, patting the couch and waiting for her brother and Bonnie to sit. She continued, "I want Jeremy to kill Kol."

A million thoughts rushed through Bonnie's head, but the one blaring the loudest was: Back up, what the fuck? "What were you going to do with him here? You don't have the dagger or the white oak stake. He's an _Original_, Elena." Here Bonnie was rushing over to protect her when she was seemingly keeping herself in harm's way with no plan at all.

Elena frowned. "Matt went to get the dagger, Rebekah has it." Her nose wrinkled as she said the blonde's name. "We just needed more time."

Bonnie sighed.

"And once he's daggered, we can find where he's keeping the white oak stake, and Jeremy can kill him."

"Hang on. Really kill him?"

"Think about it. Kol's sire line must stretch to the moon by now. If Jeremy kills Kol, every vampire that he's ever turned, not to mention everyone that they've turned, will die. Which means the hunter's mark will be complete and we'll have our key to finding the cure." She beamed.

"You'd be killing the good with the bad, though." Bonnie pinched the bridge of her nose. She liked to believe she didn't make it a habit to protect vampires, but it did seem strange to hear Elena speak so gleefully about killing thousands of them who may be just as innocent as her and Caroline. Actually, Elena and Caroline were the two vampires she did make it a habit to protect. "Wait a minute. How do we know you guys aren't part of Kol's bloodline?"

Elena's grin faltered. "Well, Klaus said – "

"Klaus? Because he has no incentive to make you believe you shouldn't kill him? And speaking of Klaus, I doubt he'll appreciate us killing his brother."

The girls stared at each other, both frustrated now.

Their heads whipped towards the door as it blew open, and the trio leapt to their feet. Kol stood outside the threshold, his lip curling into a cruel sneer.

"I've considered your request for a truce. Request denied."

He knew.

Bonnie stepped out in front of Jeremy and Elena as Kol strode into the foyer.

"Move aside, witch. I have Hunter arms to tear off and doppelgänger hearts to extricate." Kol took a few steps towards where they stood in the living room.

Bonnie's eyes focused angrily, and Kol screamed as his arm bent at an unnatural angle. With a growl, he wrenched it back into place. "Why do you help them? You would release Silas into the world for some cure that may or may not exist? You would kill yourself for that?" He moaned in pain, falling to one knee as the bones of his leg snapped.

Behind her, Jeremy and Elena looked on fearfully. The witch's glower was unwavering. "What are you talking about?" she growled through clenched teeth.

He roared as his arm was again bent, the crack of his bones resounding through the room. "Freeing Silas and the cure requires the expression magic of a dying Bennett witch."

She blinked, and he saw.

"They didn't tell you, did they?" He smirked through his pain.

With a guttural snarl, she focused on him again, shattering his hand. When he was keeled over in agony, she turned to look at Elena, and her stomach dropped to see the guilt on her friend's face.

"You knew?" she whispered, feeling the sting of tears come to her eyes.

Elena's gaze dropped to the floor. "Damon told me they needed a Bennett witch. I didn't know you had to die though, I swear." The vampire looked up at her friend pleadingly.

Tears rolled down Bonnie's face, which had grown cold and detached. She turned back to the Original vampire kneeling before her. Kol could sense the power surging wildly inside the witch. Every lightbulb in the house began to burst, raining sparks and shards of glass all around them. Elena and Jeremy looked on in horror as the living room was suddenly engulfed in flames. Kol's screams echoed over the roar of the fire as she refocused her attention on him.

He looked up at her from his knees, awed by the raw beauty of the terrible power she unleashed, despite the torrent of suffering it wrought on his body. Tears streaked down her face, her hair whipping wildly with the violent ebb and flow of her magic.

"Witch!" he shouted amid the din of the fire and the colliding furniture that had begun to levitate and careen around the house dangerously. "You have to stop, you can't do this!"

"You have no idea what I can do," she intoned coldly.

"Yes, I do," Kol persisted. "You're a witch lost in the heady rush of Expression. You aren't the first to fall, Bonnie Bennett."

Her eyes softened, and they were all he could see. The pain, chaos and flames faded into the background, and something in him clung to the vision of those soft green eyes.

"What do you know about Expression?" Her voice was so quiet he almost didn't hear her.

"Expression is the magic of death, it feeds from the souls of the dying. Dear Professor saw to it that your reserves are filled for now, but they will run out. And if you're like most witches who succumb to Expression's allure, you will kill to have it back."

Bonnie flinched, and much of the furniture that flew wildly around them crashed to the floor. Still, the flames did not abate.

When she didn't speak, he continued. "I heard your hesitation to murder my bloodline. If your instinct is to protect the innocent even among monsters, I know you cannot allow yourself to kill as much as Expression would require you to kill."

"I am stronger than you think. I can control this." Her eyes flashed, the reflection of the surrounding flames dancing in them. Her stance belied her doubt, however, loosening slightly.

"It's an illusion. No matter what that professor said, you are not in control, witch. Expression will eat away at you until there is nothing left, and you will become no more than a monstrous shell. I have seen it happen, I have no reason to lie to you."

She deflated, sinking into a broken-hearted crouch. The fire finally died away, and though the acrid scent of smoke lingered in the air, the living room showed no signs of the blaze.

He felt his bones as they slowly knit back together, the cruel attentions of the witch having relented. He moved with a groan to sit beside her. "Look, darling. Here's what I propose."

She stared silently at the floor, hugging her knees.

"Come with me. I know witches in New Orleans who can help you. They've seen this before." His voice was strangely soft and kind.

She looked at him, surprised. "What's in it for you?"

He smirked. Just like that, straight to the point. He loved witches. "If you're less volatile and remove yourself from the influence of these selfish creatures you call friends, they cannot use you to raise Silas."

She was quiet for a moment, and a shocked Elena spoke, reminding them both that the Gilberts were still standing beside them. "You can't be seriously considering going off with him. He's an Original vampire, Bonnie."

Bonnie climbed to her feet, not looking at her best friend. Next to her, Kol also stood. When she began to walk towards the front door, he followed her.

"Bonnie, stop! Think about this." Elena strode behind them, but came to a short stop as Bonnie twirled around to face her.

"Someone should have told me. _You_ should have told me." Her voice was cold, and when she spun on her heel and walked out with Kol in tow, Elena found that for once she had nothing she could say.

* * *

She let out a heavy sigh as they passed the sign that brightly proclaimed, "You are now leaving Mystic Falls." The chilly glow of the winter moon bathed the highway, and she watched the dark Virginia countryside fly past the window.

He turned his gaze away from the road to soak in the sight of the beautiful witch slouched in the seat beside him. Everything had worked out even better than he could have imagined, despite not having the pleasure of ripping any arms off. He mentally patted himself on the back.

His smile faltered as she sighed, but he knew that she was far more likely to find happiness away from the cursed town. Given the benefits of time and his company, of course.

She noticed his gaze from the corner of her eye and turned to face him. His smile broadened then into a cheeky grin, and she knew he was about to say something stupid.

"Bonnie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

She groaned. "You're making me regret this already, and we're less than five minutes outside of town."

He tilted his head with mock curiosity. "Not a friendship then, you're saying you want more? That could be arranged, little witch."

His grin was annoying, so she didn't understand the smile stubbornly tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Don't make me turn this car around," she threatened.

"I'm the one driving," he reminded her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Your point?"

He smirked. "Fair enough."

Soon, she found she couldn't even see Mystic Falls behind them anymore when she glanced at the side mirror.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! I selfishly needed the catharsis, I think. It's weird how you can actually mourn a fictional character. Part of me feels like that might be a problem, but most of me is sorry not sorry. Anyway, Kennett will forever be perfection in fanfic now, so at least we definitely have that! Please R&R, love you!**


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